Diary of Brine
by otakufangirl5925
Summary: A boy ran in, leather book clutched tightly in his arm."I think it says Brine." One thing lead to another. More questions appear than answers. How can one small diary show the truth behind what was centuries of misunderstanding? Just who is Brine and why is he related to the destruction of the northern village? But maybe a bigger question would be, who our narrator is? DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I was sitting on an old stool, making small conversations with the bartender. The tavern was two stories tall and lit by the gentle glows of candles. A thin layer of chatter covered the atmosphere.

A boy ran into the tavern, a thick leather book tightly clutched under his arm. Disturbing the somewhat peacefulness of the room. Knocking over a chair and slamming the book down on one of the Middle tables with the most people, his speech came out in short puffs, "Look! Look at... What I... Found!"

"Calm down, what did you find this time?" One of the boys with blue hair spoke, he patted a seat next to him, motioning for the boy to sit down.

"I think it's a diary, I haven't read it yet. Found it in the forest." He gulped down a glass of pink liquid and slumped down on the chair.

"Remember that time you found a treasure chest and it was actually a mimic?" A boy with green headphones spoke,

"THAT was NOT fun." This time it was a man with shades, he spoke with exaggerated motions,

"Yeah, I've had a phobia of opening chests ever since." A brunette waved a hand around as he joined.

"That was a one off, this time I swear it's something good." He flipped open to the first page and began reading, "This diary belongs to... To umm, I think it says Brin?"

"Give it here," the boy with blue hair grabbed the book, "The letters are really failed but I think it says Brine." I clutched my Cloak closer to myself and moved to a table that was nearer to them, as I did this a few more people also join me in this action. Nothing interesting ever happens here so I guess this is the closest entertainment they'll get.

The book was passed around a bit more until it was finally settled in the hands of a kid with a silver band around his head.

**((NOTE: You, as the reader, will be able to 'see' what's happening as the diary is read, the people in the tavern will only know what is in the inverted commas e.g. 'I woke up today' I might also skip some entries if it's already been narrated))**

"Day 5...

...

...

...

'I woke up today, we're going to search a cave system we found yesterday. I also thought it was a good idea if I started keeping a diary.'

"Brine! Hurry up, the she'll leave us." My brother shouted, people always thought we were twins instead of brothers with a two year gap, we did look almost identical and had a weird habit of picking the same clothes everyday. I jotted down a few more lines,

'I'm starting this diary on day five since today is a Friday and my brother will get annoyed if I didn't'

"What are you doing?" My brother came in the dirt shack I was currently writing in,

"Keeping a diary. Like you said,"

"Woah, you took me seriously?" He wacked me on the head in his _friendly_ way and we left for the cave.

'The cave lead to an abandoned mineshaft, we'll explore that tomorrow.'

...

...

..."

The kid stopped reading, "This is kinda boring, are you sure you want to read all of it?"

"Skip a few pages then, I'm sure it belongs to a great adventurer with tons of stories!" The boy who brought in the diary jumped up while he said this.

"Alright then. Day 14

...

...

...

'Not much happened today, there was a spider under my brother's bed...'

"Still writing?" Abbie came im the room. We spent the majority of yesterday mining and building a large house out of cobblestone. None of us were architects so the building just ended up looking like one massive brick.

"Not like there's anything else to do." I shrugged and returned to my writing. Before my pen could touch the paper, however, my brother jumped in through the window.

"I may or may not have angered a hoard of creepers." He gave a sarcastic smile and started barricading the walls.

"Steve! This is the _third_ time you may or may not have angered a hoard of deadly monsters!"

'I don't think I wrote about Abbie yet. She's the oldest and is like a big sister to me and Steve.'

"Don't just write about it! Help us!" Abbie rarely raised her voice at me and when she does, most likely it's because of Steve. I jumped out my chair and started plastering cobblestone in every open gap.

SsssssssssBOOM!

"That's the first wave, just two more." Steve reassured us.

"JUST!?" Abbie looked as if she was going to swallow us whole,

SsssssssssBOOM!

"Gah!" A piece of wood shot into my left arm, blood gushing out. Still I kept pilling more blocks into the newly made holes.

SssssssBoom!

The third wave was significantly smaller, my vision started blurring. All the force that I had placed on my injured arm i ncreased the amount of blood that I lost. Eventually my vision blacked, all that was left was a continuous shouting, "BRINE! Stay with me."

'... Day 16, my arm is completely healed, Abbie is quite handy when it comes to stitches. I had to stay in bed for the past two days while Steve rebuilt the outside.'

"Lift, down." Abbie issued simple orders, after a while she replaced the bandage with a tight band, "Just in case you tear any muscles." She answered my unspoken question.

Outside, Steve had just finished rebuilding. 'We fished at a small pond and roasted fish to eat that night'

...

...

..."

"He's right, this is kinda boring." A boy with scruffy hair gave a loud yawn, "I'm leaving."

"Same here."

"Me too."

Looking around me, quite a few customers left too. Now it was just the two boys, me and another woman who sat in the middle tables.

"Should I keep reading?"

"Yeah, I wanna know."

The boy with the silver band took a long intake of air and started reading again.

"Day 27...

...

...

'It's nearly midnight but we're so close'

I brushed off some vines that made its way onto my face, Abbie shouted, "There it is!"

I looked to where her finger was pointing at. For a second, I forgot to breath. This must have been the first time I'd seen civilization in, what? Six years? And sure did it feel good to not be just the three of us.

'We stayed in a hotel, I feeltquite embarrassed for not knowing how to use a shower.'

Steve cupped his hand, then sprayed me with water. "Stop it! You're going to get my diary wet," I shook the book, wiping it with my towel.

"Why are you still writing that thing?"

"Why are YOU in the bath with me?" I countered,

Steve held up two hands, "Abbie said we shouldn't waste water, besides I'm your big brother!"

I grumbled a small "You still didn't have to splash me..." and placed my diary on my towel.

'We had dinner in a proper resurant, but before that, Abbie made us wear these really uncomfortable suits'

Earning another glare from Abbie, I finally stopped fiddling with my bow tie and started reading the menu. "What are you having?" Steve, from across the table asked,

"I don't know, maybe just a cooked chicken." I took another glance at the menu, there wasn't anything besides meat, meat and more meat.

"I'd like to order now!" Abbie called over a waiter, her brown hair was neatly tied up in a bun. To make sure I didn't look exactly like Steve again, she parted my hair sideways and Steve's hair was combed back. Halfway throught the dinner, whatever gel Abbie used must have worn off because Steve's hair started to flip forwards and I suspect mine was doing the same.

'What happened next was quite unexpected. We didn't realise that they didn't take emeralds as payment. We ended up running all the way back to the hotel, grabbing our stuff and leaving for the forest.

In a way, that was a great night'

...

...

..."

I looked up at the boys to see why they had stopped reading. Turns out that we were the only three left in the tavern.

"I'm saying this to you too, we closed an hour ago, you should head back before anything starts spawning." The bartender was at the door, turning a sign which said 'open' on one side to 'closed'.

"Oops, sorry we didn't realise how late it was." The boy took the book off the silver band kid and they started to head out. I also downed my drink and started to leave.

"Hey mister!" I turned around, "You enjoyed that story, didn't you?"

"C'mon Steven, we're not meant to talk to strangers."

"Just a second." He turned back to me, "I'm Steven and that's Roth. If you like, you can come and listen to the story tomorrow at the library."

"Steven!" Roth seemed very reluctant to meet strangers,

"All right, all right. See you there then." They ran off down the muddy path, before I could set off down in the opposite direction, I was stopped again.

"They're orphans." It was the bartender, "Ever since the village north from here was burnt down, we've had waves and waves of orphans wander this region."

"Aren't there any orphanages?" I asked,

"Yeah, but there simply isn't any room for nearly two thousand people."

"I see." With that, I was finally on my way.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**NOTE: Every time there's three '...'s the POV changes from either ?'s to Brine's or Brine's to ?'s. Just in case anyone thought that they were in the same POV. Enjoy the chapter!**

I fiddled with with the sleeve of my shirt. I decided to wear a blue t-shirt over a long sleeved white shirt. No-one can see this since it was all covered by my cloak but it was an outfit I was familiar with. I hesitantly pushed open the metal doors to the library, in my six months of being here, I had never stepped in this building even once.

"There you are!" A voice shouted from between some bookcases, "I was starting to worry that we'd have to start without you." It was Steven. Drawing my hood down a bit further, I walked over to the table that Steven and his... Friend? Were sat at.

"As you know, I'm Steven and this is Roth," He pointed to himself and the same boy with a silver band, "This is Jace," A boy with blue hair gave a weak wave.

"I'm Abel!" A brunette shouted, "And this is Hughie." He pointed to a boy with scruffy hair who was sitting next to him.

"My name is Lock," A boy with green headphones said, almost in a bored way.

"Is Sunny not coming?" Steven said after glancing around the table. "Guess not..." He concluded himself.

"Alright! Roth you better start reading." Abel nudged him on the shoulder,

"O... Okay. Day 34

...

...

...

'We met a strange boy at the river. He just sat there, staring at the water.'

"Do you think he's lost?" Abbie wondered out loud for the fourth time,

"If you're _this_ worried, why don't you go back and ask?" Steve never once took his eyes off the map he was holding.

"I'll go with you if you'd like." I slowed my pace so it matched Abbie's. "Steve? We're going back."

"What? If we want to get to the next village before nightfall-" Steve could only sigh as me and Abbie had already walked off. Following the river was pretty easy, it was just walking along a river after all. After we walked for nearly an hour, I was getting worried that the boy had gotten himself even more lost or possibly in danger.

we walked until a row of trees lined the river bed. "There he is!" Abbie cried and ran up to the boy, who had black hair covering his left eye.

'Of course I didn't notice this until he turned to look at us.'

"Hey? Are you alright?"

"... Yeah." He replied after a long pause. If he could talk by just staring with his single eye, I'm sure he would be saying something like "Go away already."

I scratched the back of my head. The shy, silent types were the worst. I looked at the sky, though it was partially covered by empty branches of the winter trees, the sky was relatively clear.

"Y... You're bleeding!" Abbie snatched the boy's arm up. As his white sleeve fell, a nasty gash was revealed.

''How did you get this cut?' Was probably what Abbie was going to say next, however, what happened next might as well have completely defied the laws that I knew.'

He jump high into the air and crashed head first into a branch. He had launched himself with so much force that his body kept going up even though his head was still under the tree branch. He did about three forward rolls in the air.

'What goes up must always come down so eventually he plunged into the river.'

The water wasn't nearly as deep as it seemed, the current wasn't too strong either. However, the boy's eyes dilated in fear, he began a frantic thrashing. Sooner than anyone could predict, the boy was swallowed up by the river. "Hang on!" It was Steve, I never even took notice when he had gotten here.

Steve waded through the waist deep water to where the boy disappeared and gently scooped him up. "I think he's unconscious."

'Upon taking him onto shore, we found that he had a high fever and so we thought that the best way to deal with this was to build a temporary shelter for the night.'

I woke up in a blanket of cold sweat. I reached for my diary though after thinking for a while, I decided that it would've been too selfish to light a candle and risk waking someone up. Look ling around the room, my eye quickly adjusted to the lack of light. Steve and Abbie both had a look of peace, Abbie even seemed to emit a small giggle every so often. I glanced around a bit more until my eyes came to meet a single, soul piercing cyan eye. "Hello." I whispered.

No reply came, "Not much of a talker are you?" I waited for around two minutes before talking again, "Can't sleep either? I never liked the dark, you never know what's in it."

I felt like was starting to ramble on so I waited probably another five minutes when a reply finally came. "But you can hide in it."

Realising that he was talking about the dark I thought I should keep up the conversation, "Is that what you like doing? Hiding?" I heard a soft shuffle, the next moment I found the boy crawling into my bed.

"Yes." He faced away from me and fell asleep. swallowing some light shock, I followed his example, turned to face the other way and also fell asleep.

The morning came, Abbie was already up and changed the boy's bandage. "I do hope you feel like talking more today. I'm Abbigale, most people call me Abbie." She pulled me and Steve forward and introduced us too.

"So how about you?" Steve said in a friendly tone.

"..." The boy had such a puzzled expression, it made me think that he just got asked the question in Swedish or something.

"What about your age?" I tried, looking at his physical appearance, he had a similar height and a skinny build like me, so around 16? Still I thought I'd ask out of politeness. This question got a semi-instant response. He held up two fists and began counting his fingers. The first time he got to four but shook his head and started recounting. Steve closed his eyes in a pained expression which earned a death glare from me and Abbie.

At last he held up both hands for us to see. "Six? You're only six?!" Abbie raised her voice so that it became a high pitched screech. The boy backed down until he hit the wall of our mud hut. "I... I'm sorry I didn't mean to scary you."

"That's one Nether of a growth spurt." I heard Steve whisper, shaking my head at his comment I said, "Where are your parents? Your mum and dad?"

"Here." Was his simple reply, he pulled two ender pearls out of his pocket.

"That's somewhat disturbing." Steve commented, much louder this time.

"Why don't you go get some wood, Steve" I offered, hoping that I can get him out before Abbie starts shouting. Steve rolled his eyes and headed out.

"Axel." I responded to the tug of my shirt, I wanted to ask "what?" But he carried on talking and even smiled slightly, "My name is Axel."

...

...

..."

"Kinda strange that Brine never wrote the name of the boy down." Hughie said, disturbing the flow of the story.

"He probably just forgot." Roth said and turned the book sideways, like he was testing for a secret message. "Want me to keep reading? This seems like a good place to stop for today."

"Let's stop there, I have stuff I need to do." Was Lock's opinion, he turned and left the library. Roth closed and gave the book to Steven. The other kids slowly filed out. I stayed and read a few more books. Until the sun started to dip did I leave the library.

I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I was in the _shadier _part of town. I heard a shout then spotted a group of boys running away from a baker. "Come back you bunch of-" He grabbed the collar of one boy who threw the package he was running with to another boy, who I didn't think was part of their group. The baker released the boy he was holding and marched up to the unfortunate boy who just so happened to be standing there to catch the package.

"You must be the ring leader!" The boy thrusted the package towards the backer and tried to walk off but was lifted into the air by the front of his shirt.

"Stop!" By then I had walked over to the two. A light ring of people had gathered to watch what was going on. "I apologise for the behaviour of this child. I'd like you to release him."

I could smell the baker's dry breath as he spoke, "This group of little rascals have been thieving from my shop for weeks. It's too late even if you rounded all of them up and begged on your knees!"

"What if I gave you this?" I showed him a block of glowstone. I knew that this was the equivalent of a block of diamond in this town. "I'll give you this if you let this boy go."

Even though anyone looking would have thought that I was brave standing up to the baker, the truth was that I was terrified. I never liked people staring at me, it's even worse now that I have nearly two dozen people gathered around me. I feel like I could just melt on the spot.

Thankfully, he snatched away the glowstone and dropped the boy. He walked away with am ungrateful "Humph!"

"What's in the package?" I asked, prompting the boy to open it. I was expecting an expensive golden plate or something. 'Shock' wasn't the right word to describe what I felt. It was much more like disturbance or disgust that I felt when I saw that the package contained one lone loaf of plain bread.

"What's your name?" I said to the boy. He crouched down and began writing on the ground with a stick. 'Ethan' It read.

"Are you mute?" He nodded. He had silver hair, making his red eyes stand out. "Are you an orphan?" I hated myself for asking so bluntly but my heart was still pounding from facing up to that baker.

He nodded again.

"Come with me."

Once more he just nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I wandered around town, Ethan trailed a pace behind me, still clutching the bread. I tried to find the group of boys from before. The day was slowly shifting into it's darker counterpart, although the sky was clear it was getting darker fast.

"Do you know where the other boys went?" I finally asked as the street lamps were lit. Ethan shrugged but took the lead. We walked down several alleyways which eventually opened up to a large courtyard. I grabbed Ethan and ducked behind a bush as two boys ran past. They looked around 12 or 13. My eyes widened in realisation, "Is this the orphanage?"

Ethan nodded but gave a small smile. He pointed to one of the open windows on the second floor, he then motioned to himself. When my gaze was back on him, he pointed to a different window and pointed to the bread.

"This is where you... all live?" Ethan looked me straight in the eyes, even though I thought I had done a good job at hiding my face. He pointed at his face, indicating to his smile. 'You're happy.' Was what I wanted to say, but I just couldn't bring myself to say anything about the current subject. "That's where the other boy lives?" Was what I said instead.

As we walked in, a lady with a sullen look approached us. "What ever he did, it wasn't him!" She jumped into the wrong conclusion, "He's a good boy i swear, please don't take them away!"

"I'm here to return this boy and also something another boy dropped." I explained quickly before she had a chance to burst into tears. "Who... might you be looking for?" She blew her nose into a handkerchief.

"He's about this tall, black hair... a brown and yellow scarf." I recalled everything I thought I knew about the boy.

"Second floor... actually, Ethan do you mind taking him?" Before Ethan could reply, the lady walked off.

Once again I walked in silence, this time with Ethan in the lead. Before I could ponder for too long, we arrived at a door. The condition of the entire building isn't too bad, there are some cracks in the wall but it's just mostly peeled off wallpaper, probably from a bored kid or two. I knocked on the door once, the wood was of a decent quality, mass produced but durable... I don't even know why I know this...

"Coming!" I think I faintly recognised the voice. "...You" was his reaction when he saw Ethan, I thought I could see signs of fear when his eyes fell upon me but it immediately shifted to surprise when he saw the bread. By now I felt bad for not buying a fresh loaf to give to him. "For me?" Ethan gave the boy the bread who thanked him in reply. When his door closed, the hallway seemed... lighter.

"Mister! It's you." I turned around but not fast enough for my cloak to have raised off the ground. It was Steven, he had a basket of different vials each filled with a reddish liquid. "These are for Sunny, he was really ill today." These kids were too good at reading me, or maybe I was letting down my guard too much.

"We never arranged a time did we?" Ethan looked very puzzled but Steven did a quick explanation, "I won't be able to come tomorrow. We're finally getting the second building finished." Steven shifted the basket from one arm to another.

"It'd be really nice if you could come and help." It was said in such a small whisper that I thought I imagined the words. "You don't have to, it might be faster that's all... also not many people had agreed to help us so most of the older kids will be doing all the heavy labour."

I wanted to stop him since I was already convinced to help him. He carried on for a bit longer before I finally stopped him and agreed to help. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Thanks again!" I waved back, also parting ways with Ethan I left for the inn I was staying at.

* * *

Still drowsy with sleep I pulled myself from bed. As I left the inn, I saw a notice board: more searches for still missing people, more offers for trade. Re-doing my hood once again, I left for the orphanage. The road there wasn't too bad now that the sun is beating down, what distracted me was how much better I could see the houses surrounding that area. Almost all of the buildings looked as if it was set up in a day, mashed together with whatever was available at the time. The choice of material was strange, from cobblestone/ smooth stone houses to houses made purely from coloured clay. It was either contemporary art or really bad architecture.

"Hello." I was greeted by Roth, he swapped his usual silver band for a white headband. "It's this way." I half trailed, half wandered behind him in a slow walk. 'I feel like I'm getting led around a lot lately.' He seemed to be in no rush to take me to the construction site, I guess I should rest as much as possible before working too.

"Here." He pointed down, it was a hole that was two blocks deep but wide enough to fit a typical mob grinder. "We wanted to keep the bottom level as half-slabs, there will be a storage level underground..." He started diving into the details of the structure. I did my best remembering most of the materials needed and what areas needed them, however, being an average adventurer, the most I've build was a two story rectangle... or cuboid as some would call.

"Steven and the others should be coming back with the wood soon so if you don't mind digging the hole a block or two deeper." Roth handed me a stone shovel and we began digging.

'Did he dig this hole by himself?'

'Are there any adults helping at all?'

'Does that lady know about this little project?' Were a few of the thoughts floating around my mind as I worked. "Roth!" Abel jumped in the hole which was now five blocks deep, "We have the wood if you wanna do the basement." He gave me a toothy smile and climbed out. Why he didn't just shout down was beyond me.

"Mister? Aren't you really hot in that cloak?" Steven asked me while handing me a drink. The house was coming together surprisingly fast. The Basement and ground floor were complete, just two more floors to go and it was barely mid-day.

"I'm okay." I admit it's really hot but my personality refused to let anyone see my face, maybe it's because of _him_, or the stares of those villagers. I hated even the thought of having to take my hood off.

"Lunch will be ready in a bit, we've done a good job so far!" Jace came out with a tray of baked potatoes shortly after. I declined the offer, these types of food don't quite go well with me. We built for the rest of the afternoon, occasionally stopping for rest. The main frame was fine, it was the sheer size of the building which made the build unnecessarily long. While starting to wall the second floor I heard a thud from the roof. A log of wood came crashing through the floors, who ever was on the floors beneath were in grave danger. 'There was no choice, I had to do it.' I reasoned with myself for a fraction of a second, the log of wood was falling in slow motion three blocks away from my face. It was too heavy for me to carry or hit away from anyone, I had to move whoever was in the way out of the way.

Teleporting to the floor beneath me, I beat the log to this floor. Thankfully it was empty anyway so I continued to teleport down. The ground floor was empty too, was I just worrying too much? The log fell through what is now the ceiling of this floor, if anyone was in the basement... A shout was heard outside, finally someone realised the roof was collapsing. I took a sharp intake of breath before teleporting through the floor. Curled up in a ball, Roth was paralysed with fear. Lifting him up by the waist, I teleported back upstairs, hoping that no-one noticed all the purple particles that was still slightly lingering on each floor. To my advantage, Roth had passed out, saving me the trouble of convincing everyone over his story.

All of this happened within the time of around a minute. Steven was the first to rush into the room, Hughie was next with the most guilty face a child was capable of making.

"Roth! Is he alright?" Steven began fussing over his friend, I released the breath I had held, "He will be fine." A headache had started to pound in time with my heart beat, I tried to hide how much it hurts. 'I haven't eaten much in a while, that's why it feels so painful right now.' Not being able to hold the pain any longer I walked outside and after having just enough sense to make sure there was no-one around, I fished out a block of what I considered food and began to eat it.

* * *

The whole situation went down better then I could have ever hope. No-one noticed any of my teleporting, I pretended to get a health potion while I ate and came up with the story that I was with Roth in the basement. All this was believed without a question. "I think a few more torches and it should be done." We stood back and assessed our work. It was nothing fancy but still impressive for it's size. Steven handed everyone a torch and we all placed one down around the land that was unused.

"Let's all meet tomorrow in the library and read a bit more of that diary!" Abel jumped at the idea, punching the night air.

"It's not that exciting." Lock muttered, still acting as the 'Negative Nancy' as an old friend would say. Hughie jumped around, knocking over his own torch and setting a block of grass on fire, it was quickly put out by Jace. Roth laughed at the scene, an overly large amount of bandages wrapped around his head by an overly protective friend. I also watched this scene play out in front of me. Abel made a remark about Lock's hair who in turn insulted Abel's obsession with an object I didn't recognise. Jace tried to calm the two down but was caught in the cross fire of Steven's body slam at Lock and Abel. 'They really do remind me of _them_'

'Too bad that time can't be reversed.'

* * *

**A/N: Not much to say... This story will be quite short, around ~6 chapters I hope.**

**I also forgot to do this in earlier chapters,**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the character of Steve and I do NOT make any profit from this story. **

**Any reference to real life people and events are purely coincidental ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Here I was, sitting in the library again. Steven and Roth has yet to arrive so I was left fiddling with my coat pocket. I scanned through a book on blazes and another one on brewing before I saw Jace, Hughie and Abel arrive. "Lock isn't coming today." Abel told me and the trio took their seats around the table.

"Looks like Roth and Steven are running a little late too." Jace pointed out. I nodded in agreement.

"Like books?" Jace started some light-hearted conversations, I shook my head,

Abel spoke up, "Oh I read _all_ the time, like the other day when I finished five books in a day!"

Jace laughed, "Comic books don't count, Abel."

"C'mon! They're comic _books_, they're still books so don't be so bookist_._"

'Bookist?' I smiled at the argument that is causing the rising of several eye brows of people reading nearby.

"Hey mister? You never told us your name, did you?" Hughie asked a question which I thought I had managed to avoid.

"M... Me?" I could lie but my head was completely empty for names, I had already hesitated too long to just shake off the question so I answered, "Can't you just keep calling me mister? I'll be gone after the story anyway."

"But it'd be nice to be able to call you by your name instead of 'mister' all the time. Why don't you take the hood off too, you look kinda creepy." Flinching at the thought of me being creepy, I shrugged and said, "You'd be more scared if I took off my cloak" Hopefully he'd fall for my bluff and not question the matter any longer.

"But-" Before Hughie could ask again Steven and Roth came rushing through the door, earning a glare from the librarian.

"Sorry we're late guys, we had to look after Sunny." Steven apologise.

I heard Jace say something like "His eyes are still like that?" However Roth had opened to a page that was marked by a white feather and began reading.

"Day 37

...

...

...

'It was Abbie's birthday today, well, we sort of just made up days that would be our birthdays since none of us can actually remember the date'

I stretched and placed the feather quill down besides my diary. Steve was snoring softly besides the window. The sun rose a few minutes ago but I was already awake. We arrived at a new city today, it was massive on the map, covering the full face of four medium maps. We planned to get her a present there. By doing some research, we found that this city dealt in glowstone: block and dust. Thankfully we came across a town a week ago that sold us pretty much all their stock of glowstone.

I heard Axel get up, he walked over to see what I was writing. I pulled some bread from a chest but Axel still refused to eat anything. Frowning and biting into my own bread, I added to my mental to-do list- Find something for Axel to eat.

'We headed for that city which we soon learned was called Belfa city'

"This is quite nice... That one too." I pointed around at the small trinkets and jewels which were displayed by the market stalls. Ranging from diamonds to dyed cyans, there was not a single spot of the market that wan't plain.

"These are quite expensive, ya know." Steve scratched the back of his head and it was true, the more extravagant jewels costed stacks of glowstone. Abbie was busy shopping for supplies so me Steve and Axel strayed off.

I felt a tug at my shirt sleeve, "What's wrong Axel?" I had to mentally remind myself that Axel is actually a six year old who is just really mature looking for his age. Without words, his stomach growled a deep rumble. "Hungry?" I chuckled, "Hey Steve! let's get some food."

After trying six or seven restaurants we resorted to searching for other sources of food. Whenever Axel as much as licked any food, his face turned green and he would refuse to even look at the item anymore. "What _do_ you eat?" Steve sighed in frustration, "You don't eat human flesh? Do you?" I know this was meant as a joke but it gave me a bright idea,

"We haven't tried sushi!" I grabbed Axel's jacket sleeve and ran off.

"Hey kiddo, what ya ordering today?" A furry creature with an apron and fish knife spoke from behind a counter.

"I think I'll have one of everything." Steve gave me a glare. Every restaurant that we've visited, we had to finish off what Axel couldn't eat... So pretty much the entire menu. The different dishes were served. Each earning a similar result from Axel, the boy was just allergic to eating.

We walked around the market in defeat. There was probably just enough time to get Abbie a present before we left. "Let's just get her cake or something, she'd like that better than any of these scarves." Steve wasn't one for clothes shopping, I wasn't a fashion expert either.

"Look." I followed Axel's gaze towards a certain necklace. It was an eye of Ender, except the slit was white instead of black and instead of being the blue-green pearl, it was a light crimson. Without noticing, I was an inch away from bumping into it.

"Hero's Eye!" The shopkeeper gave me a small fright. "Legend has it that this belonged to a great being maybe even Notch, interested?" I half-heartedly nodded, my attention was focused on the gem.

"I'll take it." Steve handed the man a stack of glowstone and claimed the Eye. "You sure this thing doesn't have any weird enchants on it?" He asked afterwards.

"I'm pretty sure, it's not glowing or anything." I poked it for good measures.

"Hey, isn't something missing?" Steve looked around, I had to tear my glaze away from the Eye.

"A...Axel!" I shouted "AXEL!" I found him soon enough. He was speaking to a villager though it didn't look like he was listening. His eyes were black, a tiny speck of white replaced where his pupils would have been. I felt wind rush by me as Steve walked towards them.

The blackness of Axel's eyes suddenly covered his entire face, his mouth stretched to an impossible size, going literally from ear to ear. With an audible _crunch_, followed by a thud, screams erupted with a rippled effect. I pocketed the gem and rushed over, matching pace with Steve.

I took Axel by the arms while Steve gave him a whack strong enough to knock him unconscious, with this, his face returned to the normal pale white.

'What was that?'

* * *

We told Abbie that the commotion was over someone trying to sell us a creeper. While she was away getting fire wood, me and Steve watched over Axell as he still slept. "Brine."

"I know but there must be a reason,"

"He's not a crafter,"

"... And neither are we." My brother stared at me, I couldn't meet those eyes but I knew what I said was real. Me and Steve woke up one day, not born, just woke up. Actually I'm not even sure if he is my brother or not but then we found Abbie, she also 'just' woke up one day with no memory. Maybe, just maybe, Axel was the same?

As Abbie walked into our mud hut, Steve shouted a big "Happy birthday!" and showered Abbie in a pool of paper which I suppose was meant to be confetti.

"Haha, thanks." Steve looked at me. I then remembered that the gem was still in my pocket.

"Happy birthday," I handed her the necklace.

"Eh? It's beautiful." Abbie turned around as I put it on around her neck. "Thanks guys." She twirled it around and posed before bursting out in a fit of laughter. Axel woke up, he looked more hungry than... than... I can't even explain the look on his face as he picked up a block of glowstone. Due to the power of Mincraftia, the block expanded as he willed it to, growing until it reached from his lap to his shoulders. He opened his mouth and began eating the block.

"He can eat that?" Abbie backed down, Steve was reaching for his sword.

"Steve wait. Axel?" He looked up at me but kept crunching at the block, "Does that taste nice?"

"I remember." He said in between gulps, "I remembered." It wasn't before he finished before he started talking again, "I was really hungry before, so I forgot everything. My name is Axel the EnderChild, that's what they called me." He pointed to the two ender pearl he always carried around.

"EnderChild?" Steve was just as confused as me.

"Mama is a happy lady, who fell in love with a fearsome man~" He began singing to a hymn like tune, "Papa was like no other, half an Ender by his side~" Tears poured from his eyes, they soaked his hair on the side where his eye was covered by his bangs. Abbie hugged him, Axel cried silently, he trembled as he sobbed.

"Let him stay." I said to Steve.

"Only because you're my little brother." He patted Axel on the shoulder and gave me a soft shove before heading to bed, it was his way of saying good night.

'He said he was an EnderChild, his parents didn't want him to stay with them and be chased by villages all his life.'

...

...

... That's quite sad." Roth finished, when he flipped the page, he had to pry the pages apart which had been stuck together by some brown substance.

"Ewww, is that poo?" Abel joked, but I knew, I had seen it more times than I wished to. It was blood, dried but definetly blood.

"Day 38? I can barely read this." Roth complained,

"Lemme see," Hughie took the book, "She ran out... screams came... fire every where..." He creased his eyes as if it would help with seeing the words better.

"Let's stop there." Steven was paler than when we started reading the diary. "Tomorrow, same time?" He left, not waiting for Roth to follow.

* * *

**N/A: Well that took a dramatic turn... Yep it's not all happy and carefree after all!**

**MUHAHAHAHA...HAHahaha...haha...ha?**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Scratches of a quill filled the room, I was writing a letter. I wasn't sure that the recipient was going to understand what it meant, but I had to try.

'Dear Steve, I hope that it's not too late...' Looking at the first line I sighed loudly and crumpled up the paper.

'This is urgent, RUN...' I let out a long breath, no this won't do either.

I don't even know if he's going to get this letter, maybe he has forgotten how to even read. The torch that was glowing on the wall was slowing burning to the base, if I was going to stay up any longer, it would mean changing the torch. Taken by fatigue, I scribbled a single 'run' and threw it out the window. I watched it get carried away by the magic of the server before falling asleep.

"Sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to leave so early." Steven was the first to arrive at the library after me. "I don't know what came over me." He said with a guilty smile.

"It's okay." I confronted him, Roth was doing the same by patting him on the back.

"As long as you're feeling better!" Abel came in during Steven's apology. Hughie and Jace not too far behind.

"I went and asked the old librarian if he could make out any words, but we still had to skip a few days. Here we go, Day 56

...

...

...

'We went to visit Abbie again today. I can't believe this happened though.' As I tried to write what happened, tears clouded my vision, Abbie was like a big sister to us. She was the only feminine figure of our lives.

"We should get some sleep, there's a big trek over the mountain tomorrow." Steve passed me an apple and Axel a glowstone block. Ever since we found out what he ate, he seemed to be talking more and more.

"Good night." I said to no one in particular, I received a duo of "Night." and "Sleep well."

Day 57

'The trek over mount Neverest wasn't so bad, we're at the top right now. The view is simply stunning.'

I finished my diary entry just as the sun sank under the horizon. Clouds crashed into the mountain below us, just a few blocks above our heads is the building limit. We don't really have a destination anymore, it used to be Abbie leading us all over the place, now it's just pointless wandering.

"This would've never have happened if we never saw that necklace." Steve cursed under his breath as he punched the wall of our loge cabin.

"There's no point in beating yourself up about it." Axel said, he was curled up on the bed in the corner of the room.

"Axel's right." I pointed out, "Let's just head to the old shrine that Abb-" Steven shot me a glare, his voice had ever sounded so cold,

"Don't say her name right now."

"Sorr-"

"Don't apologise either."

I didn't know what to do. After spending half a day in silence, I decided to have a wander around the mountain peak. The snow was almost blinding, everywhere I looked, there was whiteness. I crunched around, not straying too far from the cabin. I counted my breaths to ten, stopped walking, looked back, changed directions so I was going in some form of a circle outwards and repeated this process until the cabin was a tiny speck in my vision before I headed back.

_Click_

I stumbled on a piece of string. A tripwire. The ground beneath me shook, I could hear blocks of TNT being set off. "Steve! Axel!" I sprinted towards the cabin, the sound of explosion grew louder as I ran, "Steve! Axel! RUN!" I shouted again. A puff of purple smoke and Axel was beside me with Steve holding onto his jacket.

"Ouch." Axel was hit by a block of stone that was sent airborne during the explosion. He fell face first onto the snow. "Steve, run!" I hefted Axel onto my back and tried running. I underestimated the EnderChild's weight and tripped after trying to sprint. Steve noticed that I wasn't keeping pace and ran back to my side.

At this point, an avalanche was making steady progress towards us. "Give him to me." Steve pulled me up quite forceful by the sleeve and swung Axel across his shoulder.

The rocks beneath our feet softened and collapsed. With one hand, Steve grabbed onto what remained of the now open chasm, his other arm was firmly grasping onto my shirt collar, I had to then grab onto Axel's hood.

"Let go Steve, there's a river down there. We'll make it." I shouted, Steve took one glance downwards and released his grasp on the cliff. As we fell, I noticed that the day was turning into night. The chasm would be very dark and mobs would start spawning if it isn't already infested with cave spiders and zombies.

The water, like the weather above ground, was absolutely freezing. Thankfully it wasn't too deep so getting out was not too much trouble.

"He's hurt pretty bad, I made some makeshift bandages so we need to get out as soon as possible." I patched up Axel's head as best as I could.

"If we follow the river, it should lead us somewhere."

We walked with me and Steve carrying Axel side by side. Strangely, nothing was spawning, we didn't come across a single mob. Walking a bit further, we met what might have been the explanation: torches littered the cavern walls. "Someone's been here reciently." Steve stated the obvious.

A deep rumbling echoed around the dark. "Well someone's hungry." I managed to joke,

"It wasn't me." Steve held up his free hand that wasn't supporting Axel.

"You don't suppose that there's some monster living here... Do you?" My mind raced to remember every fairytale that Abbie told us.

Another wave sent cracks down the floor, "We better not fall any deeper." Steve said, annoyed.

_Crash_

A wall of water blasted from the direction we were going, Steve reacted immediately and threw Axel onto his back, we ran back the way we came. Reaching the torch litter path again, we saw that it was blocked by white, fluffy snow. "It's no use!" I cried, my attempt at trying to shovel away snow resulted in more pouring in.

"We've got no choice." Steve sat Axel up by the cave's side and pulled me closer, "Give the amulet to me!"

"No! You saw what happened!" I shoved him away, I was now trying to blockade the incoming wave with cobblestone but the cavern was too big.

"We're not going to get out of this." Steve's voice became a harsh hiss.

"I'm not letting you end up like Abbie."

"We're ALL going to DIE!"

"You will DIE!"

"Then we'll use it together. Whoever comes to their senses first takes off the amulet off the other."

Nodding hesitantly, I pulled the amulet out by it's silvery chains. "Here." I wrapped the chains around our wrists and I grabbed Axel by the sleeve.

Concentrating on one thought, 'up', my right eye's vision went white. Steve's left eye had turned a glowing white with no pupils, I suspect that's why I lost my vision as well.

We nodded at each other, Steve blasted a hole in the ceiling while I levatated us up. As I did so, the cavern below became engulfed by blue rapids.

Steve formed what I think was the fourth fireball and shot it upwards, finally we hit light. We flew through the surface and crashed onto the snowy ground. Water erupted behind us in a cold geyser.

I ripped off the amulet from our wrists before my head started hurting. Steve was on his knees in pain. "You're alright now." I managed a small chuckle, 'that was way too close' I thought. Axel started stirring, in a way, I was glad that he was knocked out during all that. He would have never agreed to jumping into the river at the bottom of that chasm and walking down a dark cavern would have been like asking him to walk throught a lava lake.

"M...my head." Axel murmured,

"Ha, my head hurts a little too." Steve smiled, clearly he found the near death experience funny as well.

'Today, we nearly died... Now that's something you don't get to say everyday. We're still not sure what this amulet is capable of, wearing it for too long causes the user to lose control. Like... Abbie'

...

...

..."

"So that's what happened," Steven crossed his arms,

"Time really does fly when you're having fun." Hughie pointed outside, it was orange as the sun started sinking.

"We're nearly at the middle, I'll see everyone tomorrow. Same time." Roth got up and left. I also stood up, I had something to deliver after all.

Ethan was relatively easy to find, I just had to look for a clump of silver hair. "Here, a present." I found him near a tree, he was sat with a red, leather case book.

he took the box that I handed him and shook it, a small rattle could be heard. After opening it, he held up a blue note pad and a quill. "You won't have to write on the ground anymore."

'Thank you!' He took up the quill and wrote on the first line of the first page. The world of Minecraftia is a funny one, you could just aim a feather at paper and ink would appear. Throwing a written message in the air while thinking of a person's face would transport the message to that person.

'I will treasure it.' Ethan's handwriting was surprisingly neat, but then again, it wasn't that big of a surprise since he's had plenty of experience with writing.

"Bye... Then." I waved and left, it was a sort of awkward meeting, I didn't know what to say, a 'look after yourself' or 'stay well' might have been a hundred times better than my half-assed 'bye'... Oh well... Maybe I'll get another chance.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"...

...

...

Day 60

'I've... Well, we've been forced to use that amulet far too many times than what I'm comfortable with' I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, it was getting quite long and annoying.

'Last week we tried cutting Steve's hair but in the end we just shaved it all off and waited for it to grow back to a decent length. Being hairless during the winter is not ideal so I kept my current hair length.'

"Dinner's ready." A small but solid voice came from Axel,

"I'll be there soon." I scratched a few more lines in my now half filled diary.

'I've gotten used to the... Emptiness... Never quite realised how bad it is but I'm used to it... or at least what I convince myself to believe.

Shuffling around, the floorboard creaked under my weight. We really should consider filling in the hole underneath our house, which had a habit of being filled up by random mobs.

"What are we eating?" I smiled faintly as I saw the helmet that Steve has recently been wearing everywhere,

"At least someone can find something funny these days." Steve said this in such a harsh tone, I could barely tell that he wasn't being sarcastic. "Also it's beef, again."

Axel munched on a glowstone block while I helped myself to a piece of steak. Steve hasn't as much as eyed his food. Dropping my fork which held my first mouthful, "You should eat, or do you want me to feed you, big brother?" I joked,

"I'm not hungry." He then made a move towards the door, "I'll be back before nightfall."

"Alright." I held my arm up, reaching for the fork. Before I could taste it however, I had a sudden thought: 'No, it's not alright.'

I stumbled out the door, only managing to pull on some leather boots. "Steve!" I shouted, "Come back!" As I pushed out the door, I was hit by a strong gust of wind which knocked me to the ground. Rain had started to pound.

"Steve..." I muttered weakly, pushing myself off the muddy soil. I shielded my face from the whips of wind which was now slowly accelerating. After walking around the cliff edge for a while, I came across the silhouette of Steve who was crouched facing the storming clouds that were making steady progress towards the mountain face.

"We better get inside before we get struck by lightening." I patted him on the shoulder, some of the mud fell and dripped onto his back.

"I can't. Not anymore." It was raining so hard by now that my vision was limited strictly to the block directly in front of me. I couldn't tell if Steve was crying or it was just the rain. Still, his voice sounded strained.

"What are you talking about? Don't go all cryptic on me now." I tried lifting him up but another gust of wind blew me onto my knees, "As long as my heart is still pumping, I will never give up. Isn't that what you'd always say?"

"She's dead now!" Steve shot up, "Nothing is alright anymore..." Before he could crouch back down, I grabbed him by the shirt and threw him as far away from the cliff as I could manage.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're not thinking about this, about anything right now."

"I... Loved her." Steve mouthed or maybe he whispered, the conditions were so bad that my sense of hearing was nothing but the thundering of the skies above.

"What? Of course, we all loved her." Finally working out what Steve just said,

"You know what I mean-" with this Steve took the amulet out of his pocket, "This thing's meant to have unlimited power right?" He shook it in mid air. Steve took one more look at me and mouthed, "I loved her." Once more before putting on the amulet. "I wish for the power-" I broke off his sentence by tackling him to the ground. "No! I'll kill you!" My sight vanished as I fell into unconsciousness.

...

...

..."

Roth sniffed a little before clearing his throat to carry on reading. Ethan, who was sitting beside me gave me a little nudge and held up his notebook, 'I don't like where this is going'

"Plot twist!" Hughie shouted so that the librarian had to hiss another 'SHHHH' at him.

"Carry on." Steven is now wearing a blank expression, is he just that shocked?

"Yeah...

...

...

Day 67

'We tracked Steve to another village, he's getting more violent...' I traced my finger down the middle of the diary where Steve had torn out the few pages.

"He's coming." Axel was wearing nearly full iron armor, I was in a similarly mismatched outfit, tracking down and keeping up with Steve had left us little time to mine for resources.

"Get ready, it's going to be a clear night today so you'll be fighting too." I picked up my iron sword. 'I've thought about this over and over, each time coming to the same conclusion. We were going to have to... Kill... Steve.'

I slammed my diary shut and stored it safely on one of the many shelves of this town's library. If my plan succeeds, I will not be needing physical attachments any longer. Dark fogs approached. Unknown to the villagers this fog may be the last thing they ever see. From the tree that I sat in, I signalled to Axel with the moonlight being reflected by my sword. I waited until I heard a scream followed by the rush of footsteps. Tilting my sword like a mirror, I watched a small crowd of people gather then be led outside the village. I breathed out then took a long intake of breath. "Ready?" I whispered when I noticed that Axel was now beside me. He nodded in response.

Leaping out of the tree, we were faced with a hoard of dense black fog. Flowers wilted and trees became bare when it came into contact with the fog. I could hear the eerie crackle bouncing out. "Tonight, everything will end." I said, not as loud as I would have liked.

"Would you look at that?" The sly voice of Steve came from the fog. A tentacle of vapour emerged from the cloud and formed the shape of a human hand. "Why don't you come with me? We can be happy."

"Stay away from me." I was on the edge of tears. 'Someone who I had admired as the strongest person, now they're broken and blinded by emotions... Would it have been better if... No, this is no time to think about 'ifs' and 'could haves', this is here, the present, now.' I slashed at the fog, cutting apart the hand. Axel fought off the mobs that were attracted by the large amount of life.

"Take the amulet off!" I knew it was useless, but one could hope, right? The fog grew denser as I slashed, it condensed and thickened, soon it became that size and shape of a human being. Steve now had scars, ripped clothing and greasy hair. "If you dare stand in my way... Between US!" Steve lashed out with a still foggy sword. I couldn't tell what material his sword was under the fog, whatever it was, it made a clank and bounced my sword away whenever it connected.

"She's dead! The end." I couldn't believe why Steve, of all people, to fall as victim to something as trivial as love. "When did you start caring anyway?"

Steve shouted something incomprehensible before attacking me with so much strength that I was knocked down to my knees. "Steve." I cried before my arms gave in and his sword was embedded in my shoulder. Feeling something crack, I pulled back, causing the sword to slice even deeper. I clutched my right shoulder, I weakly raised my sword with my right hand. 'Good, at least the nerves aren't damaged.'

My vision pulled focus and I spotted the amulet dangling by Steve's trouser pocket. Charging recklessly, I feigned an attack at his neck so his lower body was open for attack. Taking this opening, I slashed at his leg, thankfully I sliced the bottom of the pocket and the amulet slipped out. Steve's pupils returned and his eyes stopped glowing. we both fell to the ground. Reaching for the amulet, I took it by the chains and threw it as far as my arm could manage. 'I wish that... I could just restart this all over again.'

...

...

..."

"Why did you stop?" Abel asked Roth,

"I can barely read this handwriting." Roth tilted the book in frustration,

"May I?" I held out a hand,

"Yeah okay." Roth passed me the book, I looked at the big and jagged writing. _As if someone was trying to fight off something._

"Day 157...

...

...

'It's all making sense now, I see why... I know I do...' I sat in a dark cave. This was where we first spawned. Walking out of the darkness, I was met with a stream of green '1s' and '0s'. I lied about this place. I just made it to look like the old world. This is my world now... And nothing can stop me from making it perfect. The sky was pitch black but the land was well lit. After walking for a few chunks, the world just seemed to fade entirely, like someone came and took a bite out of it. 'Which it sort of true but I just never got around to create it yet.' I drew a circle with my finger, It grew until it was big enough for me to walk through. My amulet jingled as I was teleported to another dimension.

'I had sent my workers to this dimension... They were one of the first beings I had created so they lacked any detail. With long limbs and purple eyes.' I sent them to this world to collect materials for my world... I drifted down to a nearby village. A man was there, followed closely by a deathly pale boy. "Hello Steve." I whispered then hid immediately behind the tree he was chopping. "D... Did you hear that, Axel?"

"Steve... Are you hearing things?"

"Hm? Oh just me then." He chuckled... Smiled... Laughed... 'Don't worry.' I thought, 'Soon I'll return everything to you, including what you'd lost.'

* * *

**A/N: The slow descent into madness... Oh dear... I would say sorry for the lack of updates but if I was truly sorry, I would've uploaded on time... So I guess I'm not sorry? Damn logic...**

**Just a few more chapters to go! Please review 'n' stuff if you enjoyed... Review as well if you didn't enjoy? Wait why are you still reading if you didn't enjoy... (There is wayyyyy too many ellipses' in my writing... Gah! I just did it again... Does anyone even say 'Gah' in real life...I give up). **


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